When I was young my mom enrolled me in a program called Safety Town. The idea behind the program was that young children would learn about fire safety, road safety, and playground safety among other things. I lasted a few days in the program before my mom removed me. The idea that I would be in danger gave me nightmares. To this day I don't like dealing with the idea that I might be in danger. (Pretty ironic for an equestrian isn't it?)

On June 12, my adopted city was attacked. For the past week I have felt like I did when I went through Safety Town; scared, and threatened. But I have also never felt prouder of this city.

I have watched this city pull together and stand with each other. Individuals have organized blood drives, fundraisers, support events, and so much more.

Today, I attended the Candlelight Vigil at Lake Eola with a friend who is a member of the Orlando LGBTQ community. Seeing all the support for the victims and first responders was amazing. Everyone was there with one goal; to let the world know that we will never be knocked down, we will never waiver from being a city where everyone is welcome.

I fell in love with Orlando because of the "vibe" of the city. The diversity and acceptance that can be found in here is what makes this city great. It is what encouraged me to make this city my home.

From what I saw tonight I know that Orlando will rise from the ashes of this disaster and be greater than ever. We will never forget what happened or the individuals who fell, but this city will recover and we will learn from this experience. No matter what you believe in or who you love, The City Beautiful will always welcome you with open arms.
The following images were taken today at the Candlelight Vigil:

This banner was flown around Lake Eola before the Vigil.

Just one of the many memorials that were/are located at Dr. Phillips

A small portion of the people at Dr. Phillips honoring the fallen.

Florists were handing out these flowers to everyone. This was one of the many acts of kindness and community I witnessed at the Vigil.

The organizers of this heart were inviting everyone to come and place a flower on the heart. They had pre-cut flowers available.

Ribbons that were hanging on trees around Lake Eola.

The flags are still at half mast. This image gives you an idea of the amount of people that were present. It was taken around 5:00PM. Well before the official beginning.

This rainbow appeared over Lake Eola right before the Vigil officially began.

The entire lake was one large group of people. I've never imagined this many people would show up.

You can faintly see all the candles. Everyone was sharing lighters and matches to help keep the flames lit despite the wind.

The fountain was light as a rainbow. I'm not sure if this is an everyday thing but tonight it felt special.

Well, May ended on both a positive note and a negative note.

To get it out of the way, I am no longer in the audition process for Orlando Concert Band. It was a fun audition process, I am extremely thankful that I had the opportunity. But I feel it's for the best for both parties involved. Orlando Concert Band is a bit more intense than I would like, and towards the end of the audition process I was starting to burn out. I wish them the best of luck with their upcoming concerts and look forward to seeing them perform in the future!

In the mean time I will be searching for a band that better fits my personality and playing style.
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On a high note I received a huge honor at work. I don't really want to go too much into my job, but I was one of five people selected to start this group in our Orlando office. I can't say that I'm not super nervous about this but I am so grateful that my manager saw the potential in me and is giving me this opportunity.
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So, the rest of this post is pretty much covering random minor things that have happened since I last posted.

Florida Tan, or Arena Dirt?

If you guessed Arena Dirt then you're right! I have officially found a barn in Orlando! It is a mostly adult barn and extremely relaxed. I am currently working on finalizing a lease on one of the resident ponies. The same pony who I may have fallen off last week. When you go from riding an extremely seasoned schoolmaster to a "green" (maybe more on the yellow side ;-) ) pony, I guess there might be a spill or two. Hopefully, I won't keep leaving covered in this level of arena dirt.
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I wandered over to the Clermont area to meet a friend for dinner last night and ended up at the Crooked Spoon. This was probably the best dining experience I've had in the Orlando area. The wine selection was awesome and different than most restaurants. It seemed like everything they had was organic or from a smaller winery. I got the Eggplant Terzetto and it was to die for. Perfectly made, with the right amount of flavor. I am definitely dragging my mom to the Crooked Spoon when she's back in town. 

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I've discovered that one of my coworkers is a huge Diamondback's fan. We've been enjoying taunting each other about these games.

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Perks of being a Disney annual pass holder that lives locally. Now I've got to figure out what to do with the whole set of these.

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I went to Ulta today, on the hunt for hairspray and something that will work better on my hair than a curling iron. My hair will not hold a curl no matter what I do. My coworker had recommended this curling wand. With the $20 price tag I figure it's worth a shot. 

Here's a preview of how my hair looks with no product.

I'll be back with a review at a later date. Hopefully it works!

While at Ulta I also saw this palette and seriously considered it, until I saw the price. I love Urban Decay and I love the colors in this collection but there is no way I can justify the $60 price tag at the moment. I'm hoping to get a good coupon so I can go back for it. 

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Finally, enjoy the cat photos of the day. Bailey was very curious about what I was doing with the curling wand box and needed to see how it tasted. The silly cat has decided to take an interest in everything I touch. 

This is how we sit when I write any of these posts. She always has to be touching me when I'm home. 

I am an absolute lush for Lush Cosmetics. ;-)

(I feel like this post calls for that.) 

When I realized that my skin was threatening to breakout on a level that could compare with my high school experience, I decided it was time to splurge on my skincare and take a trip to the local Lush Cosmetics. 

I am extremely lucky that my nearest Lush is 20 minutes away as opposed to 90 minutes from when I lived in Illinois.

When I got to Lush I was immediately welcomed by one of the sales girls who was doing a bath bomb demo. Because I already have a pretty big stash of bath bombs and bubble bars I started to wander around the store.

It has been over a year since I last stepped foot in a physical Lush store and I was curious about several new products I had seen online.

Having used their Big Shampoo in the past I was curious about the new Jersey Bounce shampoo. The salesgirl reassured me that it had the same volumizing properties as Big but it was not as drying as Big. I decided on a small pot of the Jersey Bounce and continued my lap around the store.

The next product I hunted down was Lemony Flutter. Lemony Flutter is a cuticle cream I have used for years with great success. After my trip to Chicago last week my cuticles have been extremely dry and cracked. This product has always been able to restore my cuticles (and dry hands) to a softer state in no time.

After getting these two items I was approached by another sales girl asking if she could help me with anything. We spoke about the fresh face masks for a bit and she recommended Love Lettuce based off my skin type and issues. Here's hoping Love Lettuce keeps me from looking like an Appaloosa this week!

The final item I got was a complete impulse purchase. I had heard about it from another blog and liked the idea of a mask with caffeine in it for the mornings. Hopefully, Cup O'Coffee was worth the purchase! So far I like the scent and the texture looks pretty decent!

Lush Haul

I'll try to comment about these items after I give each one a few uses. My rule of thumb is that you never know how a product works until you've tried it for a week or two.
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As far as other fun updates in my life:

Congrats to my little brother who graduated with his Bachelors last Saturday!!! I'm so proud that he joined the ranks of the NIU Alumni! Go Huskies!!!!

NIU CLAS Graduation

If it wasn't obvious from my Chicago comment earlier, I went home for his graduation and got to see my family and my moms pets.

If this doesn't qualify Pumpkin for sainthood then I don't know what will.

I also got to go to the Kenosha outlets and hit up White House Black Market. For some reason the Kenosha White/Black is so much better than any of them here. While I was at White/Black there were all these boxes around the store. This initially irritated me because normally all the clothes are hung up, but one of my favorite sales girls quickly rushed over and informed me that the boxes contained sweaters that were $10 a piece! Apparently the Kenosha White/Black had gotten an overload of inventory from one of their stores and they needed to move it quickly to make room for the new items! 

Yellow isn't my favorite color but who can resist for $10!

The final update I have is that I am currently in the middle of the audition process for the Orlando Concert Band! While I lived in IL I had played with the Crystal Lake Community Band. I love playing in band so when a friend told me about the Orlando Concert Band, I knew I had to try out. Currently, they do not have any spots open for a full-time flutes so I am auditioning as a substitute flute. So far I have played with the for one rehearsal, I have three more to go before I find out if I will be accepted as a sub or not. 

It's nice to have this out again, even though the music is mostly marches.

As a parting note, enjoy a picture of the trouble twins. They're so not happy that I won't let them sit on my laptop while I type this. 

They look innocent but I swear they're not.